Driver’s License System Restored In Oklahoma, But New Licenses Still Can’t Be Issued

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Driver’s License System Restored In Oklahoma, But New Licenses Still Can’t Be Issued

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFSM) — The system that allows the issuance of driver’s licenses and photo identification cards in Oklahoma was back up and running Wednesday morning — mostly.

The Oklahoma Department of Public Safety announced in a news release Wednesday morning that the system was back up and “all agencies appear to be fully functional.” The release said all driver’s license offices and tag agencies would resume normal operations today (Aug. 1).

But the department announced a few hours later that a problem had cropped up where driver’s license offices statewide were unable to issue new driver’s licenses or photo IDs. The release said renewals were not affected, nor were the tag agencies.

“The Department of Public Safety continues to work with the vendor to completely restore the system as soon as possible,” the department said Wednesday afternoon.

According to the department, a power outage Sunday morning caused a computer hardware problem. That problem caused the driver’s license system to go down statewide.

Lt. Kera Philippi, public information officer for the Public Affairs Division, said Sunday’s thunderstorms somehow caused the hardware issue, which broke down communication between the system in Oklahoma City and the vendor with which it must communicate to issue driver’s licenses and state identification cards.

“They can’t receive the information from the Oklahoma end to process them,” she said.

The damage meant no one in Oklahoma was able to obtain or renew a driver’s license or vehicle tag, nor were they able to obtain a state photo identification card.